Kolar: HM suspended for allowing Muslim students to perform namaz on campus

Kolar: A government school headmistress has been suspended for reportedly allowing Muslim students to perform Friday namaz (prayers) on campus in order to ensure they don’t miss classes and don’t contract Covid-19 by stepping out.

The headmistress in question is Uma Devi.

The school has around 400 students and 165 of them belong to the Muslim community.

The school authorities recently decided to allow students to perform Friday prayers on campus for three reasons: One, students who were going out for prayers weren’t returning to school, therefore losing out on in-class lessons. Two, allowing them to go out increased the probability of them contracting Covid-19 and passing the infection to other students. Three, to avoid accidents as students would have to cross the busy national highway to reach the nearest mosque.

However, the move didn’t go down well with all. On January 21, a few mischief mongers shot a video of students offering prayers in school and circulated it on social media.

After the video went viral Hindu activists demanded action against the headmistress, saying she had violated rules. Apart from staging demonstrations, they submitted a representation to the deputy commissioner, who ordered a probe into the allegations.